In today's fast paced business world, it is common for a person to rely on a combination of communication devices, such as: desk top telephones, mobile (local area network or cordless) telephones, cellular (wide are network) telephones, fax machines, pagers, and the like, as well as enhanced communication services, such as: voice mail, e-mail, text messaging and the like to accommodate their communication needs.
In an office environment, desk top telephone service, voice mail service, and fax service is typically provided by a private telephone communication system. A contemporary private telephone communication system consists of a switching network, a plurality of desk top telephones, and a voice mail server. The voice mail server is typically coupled to the switching network using a proprietary interface. Each desk top telephone and fax machine is coupled to the switching network by an extension line that consists of twisted pair conductors that are terminated by a telephone jack in the office. Communication between the desk top telephone and the switching network over each extension line utilizes either proprietary digital signaling or plain old telephone service (POTS) signaling. The switching network is further coupled to the public switched telephone network (PSTN) using trunk lines that are connected to a central office switch that is typically managed by the local telephone service provider. The switching network controls calls between extensions and between an extension and a remote destination via a trunk line coupled to the PSTN. The switching network also routes calls to the voice mail server when an extension remains unanswered, is busy, or is otherwise programmed to route calls to voice mail.
In a mobile environment, telephone service is typically provided by a wide area wireless telephone service provider such as a cellular telephone service provider or a PCS service provider. Such a system consists of one or more central controllers that interface telephone calls with the PSTN. A backbone wide area network couples the central controllers to a plurality of transceiver towers and telephone calls are linked between a transceiver tower and a mobile wide area network wireless telephone handset using electromagnetic signals.
A problem associated with wide area network wireless telephone systems is that the quality of service is poor compared to traditional wired telephone networks. As such, a typical person will utilize both a desk top telephone and a wide area network wireless telephone for conducting business.
A problem associated with using both systems to transact business is that there is a lack of integration and coordination between the services. While a person is at his or her desk, he or she will typically used the private telephone communication system rather than the wide area network wireless telephone for improved quality of services. However, the person will still need to monitor the wide area network wireless telephone for incoming calls, and, if an incoming call is received, the person may proceed with the call albeit the inferior quality of service rather than terminating the call and re-initiating using the private telephone network.
This problem can be eliminated, in theory, by vigilant use of the wide area wireless telephone service provider's call forwarding system. Typically the wireless telephone service provider's switching network will include one or more controllers (or switches) that include call forwarding functionality. In operation, a person may call into the controller using either the wireless telephone or a PSTN telephone and enter a command to the controller to initiate call forwarding to a designated telephone number. The command may be entered using the telephone buttons to coupled to the controller a sequence of DTMF tones to activate call forwarding to the designated telephone number. Once activated, the controller will route calls destined for the mobile telephone to the designated telephone number. Similarly, the person may call into the controller and enter a command using the buttons to deactivate call forwarding.
Vigilent use of call forwarding may assure that incoming calls to the wide area network wireless telephone are forwarded, or funneled, to a the desk top telephone. However, such forwarding schemes are time consuming to utilize.
What is needed is a multi media communication management system that provides for automated forwarding of a wide are network telephone's incoming calls a station at which a subscriber associated with the wide area network wireless telephone is currently located.